


Six Makes One Team

by Deonara2012



Category: ATEEZ (Band), Arashi (Band), Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Community: whole_new_world, Crossover, Gen, Kpop groups with drift compatible pairs, Post-Movie: Pacific Rim (2013)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22656736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deonara2012/pseuds/Deonara2012
Summary: The Kaiju put an end to the Kpop industry in a horrific way. Those groups who remained were mined for drift-compatible pairs. It's one way to do their required military service.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25
Collections: Whole New World





	Six Makes One Team

Looking back, Mingi wasn't entirely sure he could believe the path that led him from the rehearsal room at KQ to piloting a Jaeger called Wonderland Answer with Yunho. It seemed something out of a dream, and it was... weird. He wouldn't change it, because the world had needed help and he'd been able to step up and do it.

One thing about being an idol: he knew how to work. And he knew his partner knew how to work. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't fair - most people who might remember the idols he and Yunho had been were dead, thanks to the Kaiju attack two years ago - but it was life, and it was what he had now.

Yeosang and WooYoung piloted another of the Jaegers at the Tokyo Shatterdome, their partnership as good as his and Yunho's. San trained people - them, mostly, but others too - although it hadn't been his first choice. That's what they needed him for, and San was, among other things, highly adaptable. He enjoyed the time spent under San's instruction, learning to fight better, to get into better shape, to work even better with Yunho than he already did. They'd lost HongJoong and Sunghwa in their Jaeger some time ago. Time blended together these days, and he couldn't remember how long ago it had happened. It helped ease his sorrow some that Yunho felt the same way, and they remembered their friends in the Drift. Jongho headed one of the most successful mechanics teams, and he didn't want anyone else working on Wonderland Answer. Yunho agreed, and Yeosang and WooYoung felt the same way about their Jaeger, Pirate King.

They'd had to rename them, reconfigure them, although going from Japanese to Korean wasn't too much of a stretch. Pirate King had been salvaged from three or four different Jaegers, destroyed in one fight or another (but not HongJoong's Promised Desire - they'd never found the remains of that one), and Mingi's own Wonderland Answer was almost completely whole. Neither of them knew which they preferred, but they didn't switch, since they knew their Jaegers, how they worked, and what went best with them. 

The world had gotten desperate long before the Korean military had plundered the ranks of the remaining pop idols, finding a high number of drift-compatible pairs there. It wasn't too much of a surprise to the CEOs and the managers of the groups, because the idols had learned to work together, had so much in common, especially the older groups. 

Tokyo was nothing like Seoul, Mingi mused as he followed Yunho down an alley to a small place they'd discovered a few months ago, the only place they could find with real Kimchi and other familiar foods they both missed.

"You're late," WooYoung called over the muted chatter as they walked in, and Yunho grinned at him, heading over to the table WooYoung and Yeosang had saved for them. Mingi sat down and sagged slightly, still sore from the last battle they'd had. 

"We were trying to get Jongho to join us," Yunho reported. "He's buried over his head in electronics for some upgrade to Wonderland Answer, and it's not taking, and he's spitting mad. San should be on his way."

"He was going to try to drag Jongho along anyway," Mingi reported, straightening. 

Yeosang gave him a wry smile, the most anyone got out of him lately, and Mingi could understand. It was... not the way they'd ever expected to celebrate this anniversary.

"And he managed," San said, plopping down in the chair between WooYoung and Mingi, nodding to where Jongho sat down across from him. "It took a bribe or two, but he's here."

"He made a good point," Jongho said with a shrug. "Time out of it might help see what the problem is."

"And he promised to get you a rubber ducky to explain the code to," WooYoung teased.

"I don't need another one," Jongho protested.

"If the ducks you have aren’t working, maybe you need something else. Bigger, maybe," Yunho offered.

"Bigger? The last one could have been Pirate King's, if he wanted a bath," Jongho shot back, and it coaxed a laugh out of Yeosang. 

Mingi had to smile. "So, tell Pirate King's problems to Wonderland Answer, and vice versa," he suggested. "They're big enough to understand the problems, right?"

Yunho grinned at him. "There, see? They can be partners."

Jongho sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I don't think I can face this without alcohol," he said.

"Seconded," Mingi said, sobering.

"And here it is," WooYoung said as the waitress showed up, two bottles of soju for each of them, and then left them alone.

"We should eat something," Yunho said.

"They know not to call us. Someone else can save the world today," Yeosang said, and then sighed and signaled their waitress to come and take food orders.

Mingi opened the first bottle and poured a generous drink for Jongho, who saluted him with his glass and took a sip. "Happy anniversary to us," he muttered. "Only four years."

"Two without HongJoong and Sunghwa," WooYoung said, looking into the glass Mingi had poured for him.

"It feels like forever," San said, his usual cheer dimmed and sad. 

"It has been," Mingi said, pouring for San as well. San nodded his thanks, twisted open his own bottle, and poured for Mingi, Yunho, and Yeosang. 

Yunho held up his glass. "To HongJoong, Sunghwa, and Ateez," he said, his voice shaking only a little - but then, the night was young. "May they rest in peace."

"Peace," Mingi repeated, and emptied his glass with one swallow. 

They couldn't get drunk. They really couldn't, for all Yeosang's words to let someone else save the world. Too often, there wasn't anyone else, and he just.... He really wanted to get drunk enough to forget, for just a while, why they'd named their Jaegers what they did, why they were so good in the drift, and what they'd lost. It felt... too big. Too much. Too... everything. And he wanted to forget.

Only he couldn't, not without endangering Yunho, and he didn't dare.

"Where are you?" San asked, touching his arm.

Mingi looked at him, and sighed. "I don't know," he said. "Wishing things had gone differently. Wishing I could get drunk enough to forget."

San smiled, dimples flashing, and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I know."

"You can," Mingi pointed out.

"I can, but I won't," San said, and leaned on him, familiarity from the time before all this had fallen on their shoulders. "Because you can't."

Mingi rested his head against San's. "Thanks," he said softly.

The night deteriorated more than usual, because of the nature of their get-together. It felt weird, still, when for so long all of their successes were celebrated with fans, online on a platform that no longer existed. It didn't matter anymore, anyway, because so many of their fans had died in the attacks. So many idols they'd loved had died, as well. Mingi tried not to think about that, when he still reeled from the loss of the two closest to him. 

The restaurant knew them well enough to make sure they had cabs back to the Tokyo Shatterdome, even if they didn't have to take them - at least, most of them didn't, but Jongho had indulged just a little too much. San took him back to their quarters, leaving the others with a hug.

"Are you going to be okay?" Yunho asked softly as the two of them got ready for bed in their shared quarters.

Mingi looked at him. "Yeah," he said. "I am. Are you?"

Yunho sighed and leaned against the bunk. "I don't know," he said. 

Mingi stopped what he was doing and looked at him. "What's up?"

"I don't know. I feel like I've failed or something."

"Failed who?"

Yunho hesitated. "HongJoong."

Mingi hugged him. "You haven't," he said quietly. "You've done exactly right." He hadn't even gotten the first words out before Yunho sobbed into his shoulder, and Mingi held him and let him cry it out. He'd done the same so many times already, and if he cried as well, no one was there to see it happen. Or the fact that they slept in the same bunk that night, because even being in different beds in the same room felt too far away.

They trained almost as much as they had as idols, in between Kaiju attacks. The main difference came from what they learned, and it made a difference. Sometimes, when the class consisted only of San and Mingi and Yunho, or maybe the three of them and WooYoung and Yeosang, San would put on their songs and they'd practice the choreography they no longer needed to know so well. It didn't matter, and it helped, to think about the past, to remember a time they didn't have to kill to live. And it felt good to do something that wasn't meant to hurt someone or something.

Only one afternoon, Mingi didn't get through more than four measures before stopping suddenly, remembering the dream he'd had last night, and collapsing into laughter. San and Yunho looked at him, then sat next to him, demanding an explanation.

"Oh," he said, when he could breathe again. "I dreamed last night. And it was…" He had to stop as another laughing fit shook him. It took forever to get out that he'd dreamed about Pirate King and Wonderland Answer dancing to Hala Hala in perfect sync, and when Yeosang and WooYoung showed up for their time to practice, they found the three of them crashed on the floor, carefully not looking at each other, a mix of ATEEZ songs on the stereo. 

"Are you guys--" Yeosang started, and then Hala Hala started and the three lost it all over again. They had to wait until the end of the song for anyone to make any sense, and WooYoung sat down to watch them, his curious expression making it even harder for them to get control. 

And when Mingi explained, they stared at him in utter disbelief - and then lost it as well. 

"You know that's physically impossible," Yeosang pointed out when they could breathe again, when they'd managed to keep from laughing for more than two minutes.

"You think that matters in a dream?" Yunho asked.

"It doesn’t in all of the dreams I've had," WooYoung said. 

"Like what?" Mingi asked.

"I don't remember details, only that it was physically impossible to do things I did - or one of you did - in my dreams." He sat up, still not looking at anyone. "Trust me."

"Never," Mingi said at the same time Yunho said "always," and they collapsed into giggles again. It lasted shorter this time. Mingi sighed and closed his eyes. "I could just sleep here," he said, his lisp coming out like it did when he was exhausted.

"No, you can't," San said. "They'd try to sweep you up and you'd break the broom."

"Eh," Mingi said, and rolled over, getting clumsily to his feet. He glanced at the clock and grimaced. "We're late for dinner."

"Worth it," Yunho said, getting to his feet as well, and extending a hand to help San up. San took it and got to his feet, and went to help Yeosang and WooYoung to their feet.

"Definitely," Yeosang said, and they went to dinner as a group, joining Jongho at one of the tables to feel a group again, for just a while.

"These damn things are learning," Yunho grunted as he and Mingi tossed off one of the Kaiju - one they didn't know the name of - and then shot at it. "It's moving… it's like one of those stupid AI video games, where it gets harder and harder because it learns from--"

"Left!" Mingi snapped, turning to face the thing as it tried to surprise them, and threw an arm out to stop it. 

Yunho's response was immediate and timely, the other arm coming up with the gun to shoot thing thing, point-blank. It was short, hard, and both the Kaiju and the Jaeger jerked backwards in reaction. At least it meant they would be able to back up and get everything done, get this thing.... Mingi hit the sequence that would bring out the sword, and he swung it at the beast.

The head split open - not like it was supposed to, thankfully - and then the body, and it sank into the waves in silence.

For a moment, they didn't do anything, breathing heavily to try to get that they'd actually killed the thing. "It's dead, right?" Yunho asked, toggling the external communications.

"It's dead," Marshal Aiba said. "Pirate King, what's your status?"

"We haven't seen anything," WooYoung said. "It's quiet here."

"Good," Mingi muttered to himself. "I'm tired."

"All right, bring them in," Marshal Aiba said, and the comm went quiet.

Mingi looked at Yunho. "You were saying?" he asked as they turned their steps toward the Tokyo Shatterdome.

"Those stupid AI games that learn," Yunho said, sounding less stressed now that the Kaiju was dead. "Something that's happened more since Gypsy Danger went down. I don't know what to think about any of it."

"They're getting smarter," Mingi said. "And that means we have to get smarter, too."

"We don't have the disposable people to get smarter on," Yunho pointed out.

"What are you talking about?" Yeosang asked.

Mingi let Yunho fill them in, listening with half an ear as they talked it out. WooYoung sounded almost cheerful, the best he'd sounded in a while - because of the laughter about Mingi's dream? - as he added in his thoughts, and the conversation continued through dinner, where San, at least, joined them. It felt strange, though, and Mingi didn't know what it was that felt so... weird.

The intercom crackled. "Tokyo Shatterdome? Tokyo Shatterdome, come in."

They all stiffened at the far too familiar voice, missed and painful in its absence. Mingi's hand gripped Yunho's arm painfully tight. Why was it playing over the intercom, shouldn't that sort of communication be private, be sent right to Mission Control? 

"They can't possibly--" Yeosang started.

"This is Tokyo Shatterdome. Who is this?" answered the familiar voice of the Jaeger tech.

"Promised Desire. We're... it's really.... where... I'm not... what day is it?"

Never had they heard HongJoong sound so weird. San's face was white, and Yeosang looked like he was going to faint.

"It's October 31, Promised Desire. 2023."

"It's when?" Sunghwa asked, sounding more freaked out than he'd ever sounded before. "What year?"

"2023. You have been missing for two years. Where are you?"

"I don't know," HongJoong said. "It's... cold."

"This is not funny," Yunho whispered. "It's not funny, and it's not fair."

"It can't be real, can it?" WooYoung asked, his voice no louder. "It can't be."

"Wait a minute, Promised Desire. We've got a lock on you, we'll be there in 30 minutes to bring you home."

The intercom turned off with a click, and Mingi looked at the others. San was crying.

"That was cruel," Yeosang said flatly. "And it was unfair."

Mingi pushed his half-full plate away. "I'm done," he said softly, and carefully let go of Yunho's arm. The red marks stayed there, and would probably bruise. "I'm... going. Somewhere else. I'll see you later."

He got up and fled before someone stopped him, making his way half blindly through the hallways. This wasn't real. 30 minutes out, though, which meant probably an hour coming back, with a heavier load if they tried to bring Promised Desire with her pilots. 90 minutes to stew, and wait and watch, and see who started laughing at them. The crews had all laughed at them at the beginning, barely able to speak Japanese and obviously too pretty to be pilots. Although the laughter had stopped when they'd proved themselves, they still heard the whispers, some cruel laughter aimed in their direction, sometimes even pranks that hurt more than any of them let on. He hoped, hard enough to give him a headache, that the Jaeger tech wasn't one of those, because he couldn't....

"Is it true?" Jongho asked, and Mingi stopped, staring at him and trying to figure out where... oh. Of course, the bay, looking up at Wonderland Answer and wondering if there was an answer somewhere. 

"I don't know," Mingi said, his voice trembling. "We'll know in 90 minutes at the latest, and by everyone's laughter at us at the earliest."

"You think someone would pull this sort of prank?"

"I hope not," Mingi said, and hugged Jongho, who leaned into him like he'd rarely done when they were a pop group. But then, they hadn’t had to deal with the loss of their friends (and how had SHINee and f(x) and Kara and Ladies Code ever done it at all?) then, and be confronted with their possible return. None of it made sense at all.

Someone came up to talk to Jongho about something, took one look at Mingi's face, and went to find his answer from someone else. "It's not fair," Jongho said after a long silence.

"It's not," Mingi agreed.

Jongho pulled himself away from Mingi, reluctantly but firmly. "You're supposed to tell me that life isn't fair." he said.

Mingi gave him half a smile. "You already know that," he pointed out. "Besides, I happen to agree with you this time."

"Where would they have been?" Jongho asked.

Mingi shook his head. "I don't know. It's… weird. I guess they were up north, maybe… stuck in the ice or something?"

"They never found their bodies." Jongho shook his head. "I don't know," he said finally. "If it really is them, I'm going to be so glad, so glad."

Mingi nodded. "I hope it is," he said. "I think."

Yunho, Wooyoung, and Yeosang found them there, sitting across from Wonderland Answer and looking up at the Jaeger like they expected the Jaeger to tell them what was going on.

"They're coming in fast," Yunho said, breathless. "It's… they didn't bring in Promised Desire. Marshal Aiba didn't say why."

"We're supposed to go up to Mission Control," Yeosang said, and offered Jongho a hand. "Come on."

Jongho took his hand and got to his feet, and Mingi climbed up as well. They walked up in silence. San met them there, looking as frightened and lost as they felt, and the six of them huddled together, trying to make this all make sense. No one spoke to them, working with the helicopters heading in. So much went back and forth, and then Mingi got it. They'd brought the pilots in without the Jaeger, leaving some of the other choppers to bring Promised Desire in. 

Marshal Aiba turned to them after a while, and told them to go down to the infirmary. Yunho got them started, walking down in a sort of stunned group, because it had become obvious this wasn't a prank, wasn't a joke, because no one would do that to them. They just… they wouldn't. And it was too elaborate at this point. No way would they bring this much into it. 

The sight of the two stretchers, with obviously living people - HongJoong seemed to be trying to talk to one of the people carrying him, and Sunghwa looked around, eyes lighting on them - made them all gasp almost as one, and then Sunghwa tried to throw off the blanket and get up. He couldn't, his arms barely strong enough to pull off the blanket. Mingi stepped forward to help, and then a nurse moved them off out of the way and the two pilots disappeared into an examination room.

"We're just going to check them out, and then you can visit," she said, but she didn't seem to understand, especially because she then said "you can go back to work, we'll call you when they're settled."

Yunho shook his head. "We're too distracted to do anything, we'll stay here."

She frowned but didn't protest, leaving them to wait.

They waited a long time, mostly in silence. Mingi spent much of it pacing, his back to the others so they wouldn't see how he fell into old habits, going through choreography in his mind, moving his hands to remind himself of the steps and movements. It kept him calm, a form of meditation he'd used since he was in high school. It had made the fans laugh, he remembered, the few times they'd caught him at it, dancing easily during the times he had to wait. It kept him from going crazy. He knew without looking that some of the others had fallen into their habits, too. Yeosang had found great comfort in meditation, and he sat straight, eyes closed, breathing deeply and purposefully. San had joined him, as he sometimes did, and he looked more at peace than he had for a long time. WooYoung paced opposite Mingi, and Mingi caught his amused and understanding glance more than once. It made Mingi smile, even if the smile never stayed around long. Yunho studied something on his phone in a way that meant he tried to think about nothing at all.

Marshal Aiba appeared some interminable time later, and they all snapped to attention, watching him with trepidation. He nodded at them. "They'll see you now," he said. "Don't take too much time. We still have to debrief them. I know how much they mean to you. Follow me."

They fell in behind him, and Mingi held his hands clenched into fists to keep from grabbing his drift partner's hand. He hadn't had the urge to grab Yunho's hand in years. Too many years.

The room Marshal Aiba led them to was large enough for both pilots, and they piled in. Mingi wasn't surprised to find he had tears on his face, looking at two friends he'd missed horribly. 

"What happened?" Jongho asked as soon as the door closed behind them, leaving the eight of them alone for the first time in years. "We missed you."

HongJoong shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "We have tried and tried ever since they told us what the day was, but… we don't remember anything." He frowned. "Are they bringing Promised Desire back?"

"As far as we know," Yunho said. "At least, we thought we heard something about it. Why?"

"You'll think we're crazy," Sunghwa said.

"We already know you are," Mingi said without thinking, and WooYoung choked on a laugh.

"Believe me, no matter how weird it is, we're just glad you're here, and if we need to start worshiping a so-far-unnamed god, we will," Yeosang said. "But you have to tell us."

HongJoong laughed himself, and it sounded so _good_ , and so real, Mingi sat down, suddenly unable to stay on his feet. San leaned a hand on his shoulder, as if he wanted to sit down as well and was trying not to.

"No, nothing like that," Sunghwa said with that familiar exasperation. "But."

"But?" Yunho prompted when neither of them spoke.

"We think Promised Desire saved us."

Silence descended. "Like… how?" Yeosang asked.

"I don't know," HongJoong said. "It's all… nothing's clear. It's just that the last thing we remember in the drift was something… taking over without us, and then we were no longer drifting and then we woke up and called in."

Jongho bit his lip. "That's… weird," he said.

"You didn't say it was impossible," Sunghwa pointed out.

"No," Jongho said. "Because a week ago, we were trying to update one of the systems on Wonderland Answer, and… it wouldn't take. And it wouldn't take, and I was pulling my hair out."

"He almost went bald," WooYoung said, and San let out a gasping laugh.

Jongho glared at WooYoung, and then looked back at HongJoong and Sunghwa. "It was driving me crazy, until I broke it down and figured out what part of the code wasn't going in. I took that out - it wasn't all that important, not really, and all the things everything else already relied on was in the old code, so I just… didn't update it."

"What was it?"

"I don't know. I'm not all that good at coding, I'm more for the real heavy lifting. I had the impression, though, that Wonderland Answer didn't want to have that part of it's programming overwritten."

They all stared at him. "The Jaeger didn't want that part overwritten?" Yeosang asked.

"Yeah."

"You think they're becoming sentient?"

"I don't know if it's that much," Jongho said. "You guys have watched as much mecha anime as I have. Why is it so unbelievable that it's true? Or has come true?"

"Because of our thoughts?" WooYoung asked.

"You're all connected to the machines that make up and run the Jaeger. Your thoughts, your emotions, your… what you are. And why wouldn't it pick that up?" He glanced at the others. "It's not unheard of. Your energy and your determination, the way you feel about the Jaegers. I've heard pilots talk about how they feel the Jaeger is a part of them. You've mentioned it yourself," he added, looking at Mingi. "You talk all the time about how glad you are the Jaeger keeps you safe, how well it does, all of that. And your dream… reflects that."

"Dream?" Sunghwa asked.

"I dreamed Wonderland Answer and Pirate King were dancing to Hala Hala," Mingi said, and HongJoong and Sunghwa stared at him, and then snickered in unison. 

"So… we feel like they're part of the team," WooYoung said when they’d stopped laughing. 

"And they try to become that," Jongho said. "It's… hard to explain. The comment about my last rubber ducky being big enough for Pirate King, if he wanted to take a bath. It's a normal human thing. We make them part of our family."

"So you think it's perfectly reasonable that Promised Desire kept us safe," Sunghwa said.

"I think it's not outside the realm of possibility."

"That would be nice," Mingi said. He looked up at San, who'd gotten his balance back and no longer leaned on him. San looked down, and then offered his hand. Mingi took it and got up. "Do we think anyone else will believe us?"

"Marshal Aiba won't, probably," Yeosang said. "He wasn't ever a Jaeger pilot. But… some of his friends were, so maybe. The rest of the pilots around? Yeah, they probably will. Because we all know, we all have stories about that. And really… even if it did damage Raleigh Becket, Gypsy Danger tried to get him to safety. She sacrificed herself to get him back to shore."

Silence filled the room. "So you want Promised Desire back… to thank her?" Yunho asked finally.

"Yeah. At least. She deserves that much. And maybe she'll help another set of pilots, if they have to use her parts to make up another Jaeger," HongJoong said.

Mingi leaned on Yunho and sighed. "We'll all thank her, and we'll all thank our own Jaegers, for all they do," he said. Yunho put his arm around him with a smile.

"Yes," WooYoung said, and put his arm around Yeosang's shoulders. Yeosang leaned into him.

"I think," San said, the tears still obvious in his voice, "we need to have another celebration."

"Celebration?"

"Well, it wasn't much of a celebration," Yeosang pointed out.

"You laughed, it was worth celebrating for that," Mingi shot back.

Yeosang glared at him, then turned back to HongJoong and Sunghwa. "We got together and celebrated our four year anniversary," he explained. "You just missed it by a week."

HongJoong looked at Sunghwa, who looked back at him. "As soon as we get out of here, we'll set it up," he promised. "It might be a while."

"You can barely move, you've been still for almost two years," Yunho said. "Of course it will."

"Or we sneak stuff in and have it in here," WooYoung pointed out.

"No, because they won't let us back in," San said with a certainty that meant he knew from experience. "We'll wait until they're out."

"I'll make sure she knows you're grateful," Jongho said. "Before they cut her apart for parts, if they do that."

"Thank you," Sunghwa said, sounding exhausted.

"Okay, that's long enough," Yunho said. "You guys rest. We'll see you later."

He gathered them up in much the way HongJoong used to, and Mingi caught sight of HongJoong's stunned expression as they headed out. 

"It's not a joke," WooYoung said as they walked down the hall. "It wasn't a trick, it wasn't a prank."

"No," Yeosang said, his voice hitching. "It wasn't. They're really back."

They all stopped and huddled together in the middle of the hallway, trying to come to grips with that, to feel that yes, they hadn't dreamed it, that their friends were back. Mingi took a breath. "Hey," he said softly, and they all looked at him as a smile broke out on his face. "Eight makes one team again."

The laughter around him indicated healing, more than they'd had before, and Yunho held out a hand. They each put one on his, and they chorused, like they hadn't in far too long:

"Eight makes one team!"


End file.
